Tag Archive for Review

Walking, running, cycling or general fitness have always been an on again/ off again, but mostly off again, type of affair for me. While I have been going gangbusters with my latest effort, I enlisted the help of a new friend to keep me motivated. My iPhone and an application called RunKeeper. Read more

Ah mobile broadband. We love you so but we hate paying the megabucks for the experience, (especially when we are currently paying the megabucks for your previously fastest experience on contract) so it was with much jubilation that Telstra announced yesterday the release of their first 4G Pre-Paid modem. At $129.00 with 3GB of data to use in the first 30 days, it pretty much echoes Telstra’s previous Pre-Paid offerings. Read more

Well it finally happened. iBrothers managed to get it’s hands on Telstra’s latest mobile broadband offering, the Telstra USB 4G. With it’s ability to access Telstra’s 4G LTE network, the first in Australia, the device promises broadband speeds ranging from 2Mbps to 40Mbps, a massive increase over mobile broadband offerings from Vodafone and Optus where the theoretical maximum is around 7Mbps.

To access these speeds you will need to be in a 4G area. Have a look at Telstra’s coverage maps to determine if 4G is available in your area. The modem will still work in Telstra’s HSPA+ coverage areas as well as 3G enabled areas should you find yourself not in a 4G covered area. The modem has two LEDs which, depending on colour, indicates if you are in a 4G or 3G area – two blue LEDs mean 3G where blue and green indicates 4G. Read more

Even with the weather beginning to improve in Melbourne, the days are still regularly threatening rain which means, for iBrothers at least, when we find a nice day arrive with some time up our sleeve, it’s all about motorbikes and the Victorian country side. With our recent purchase of Telstra’s new wifi hotspot and the delivery of Vodafone’s Pocket WiFi 2 which accesses Vodafone’s new 850Mhz network, it seemed like a great opportunity to pack the DSLR, grab a notebook and head off for some fun. Bikes fueled, broadband & camera packed and ready to go, we decided to conduct a rural broadband speedtest using Telstra, Vodafone and Optus’ mobile wifi hotspots because, you know, it was a working day after all. Read more

iBrothers likes it’s mobile broadband – no, we REALLY like our mobile broadband. It’s there when we are stuck in traffic and need directions, when we are looking for a decent coffee in an unknown area, conducting emergency remote support on the road, enabling us to share photos instantly at the birth of our children … So when we hear about improvements to speed and performance being offered from Mobile Broadband, you know we are going to be all over it.

Enter Bigpond’s latest offering, the Ultimate Mobile Broadband WI-FI. Using Telstra’s next G network, the device promises download speeds up to 20Mbps and upload speeds up to 3Mbps. These speeds are a considerable jump from the current offerings of any other carrier. The modem itself is a Sierra Aircard 753S and while the website claims theoretical speeds up to 42Mbps, Telstra is stating the speeds to be around half that. The unit supports frequencies of UMTS 850/1900/2100 MHz, comes with wireless N connectivity and an internal GPS. More information can be found in the links at the end of this review. Read more